Purse with intrchangeable front and top panels

ABSTRACT

The purse having a rear panel including an upper edge and the body having a front panel, a region proximal to the upper edge of the rear panel including a longitudinal element formed internal to the upper edge of the rear panel, the element having an inner side wall and an outer sidewall; a linear plurality of fasteners secured upon the inner wall of the pocket proximal to the upper edge of the rear panel. An interchangeable closure flap removably attachable to the rear panel of the purse, the flap having a longitudinal edge of a width slightly less than the width of the longitudinal pocket of the rear panel of the purse, the flap having a longitudinal length slightly less than a length of the element; and a linear plurality of fasteners secured upon an inner side of the interchangeable flap and proximal to a rear edge, each fastener of the linear plurality of fasteners of the interchangeable closure flap corresponding in location to an opposing fastener of the plurality of fasteners within the longitudinal pocket, and an internal connection element of each fastener of each opposing pair of the pluralities of fasteners mechanically or magnetically press-fittably complemental to a connection element of its opposing fastener, in which a combined width of opposing fasteners, when secured to each other, does not exceed the width of the longitudinal element.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the area of ladies' handbags or purses and, more particularly, to clutch purses having interchangeable outer or closure panels thereof.

2. Description of Related Art

Efforts to produce a viable method and system of construction of ladies handbags and purses having interchangeable components inclusive of outer and closure portions thereof have existed for many years. Such art is represented by U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,204 (1996) to Byers; U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,723 (2000) to Baquero; U.S. Pat. No. 6,971,424 (2005) to Angevine; and U.S. Pat. No. 8,403,011 (2013) to McKendry.

While the aforementioned prior art constructions are adequate for their basic purpose and function of providing handbags and/or purses with interchangeable components, they are, nonetheless, uniformly deficient with respect to their inability to provide a simple, efficient and practical purse having integrated upper or closure panels thereof. Consequently, there has long existed a need for a new and improved purse having interchangeable top, front or closure panels that is simple, durable and cost-effective to produce and utilize. The present invention seeks to address this long felt need in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The inventive purse includes an open upper body having a rear panel including an upper edge said body having a front panel, a region proximal to said upper edge of said rear panel including a longitudinal pocket formed internal to said upper edge of said rear panel, said pocket having an inner side wall and an outer sidewall; a linear plurality of fasteners secured upon said inner wall of said pocket proximal to said upper edge of said rear panel; an interchangeable closure flap removably attachable to said rear panel of the purse, said flap having a longitudinal edge of a width slightly less than said width of said longitudinal pocket of said rear panel of said purse, said flap having a longitudinal length slightly less than a length of said longitudinal pocket; and a linear plurality of fasteners secured upon an inner side of said interchangeable flap and proximal to a rear edge thereof, each fastener of said linear plurality of fasteners of said interchangeable closure flap corresponding in location to an opposing fastener of said plurality of fasteners within said longitudinal pocket, and an internal connection element of each fastener of each opposing pair of said pluralities of fasteners mechanically or magnetically press-fittably complemental to a connection element of its opposing fastener, in which a combined width of opposing complemental fasteners, when secured to each other, does not exceed said width of said longitudinal pocket.

It is an object of the invention to provide a purse having interchangeable closure flaps capable of conferring varying aesthetics to a purse as may be dictated by changes of fashion, style or preferences of the user.

It is a further object to provide a purse capable of reducing or minimizing time spent in searching for a particular purse compatible with a given outfit contemplated for a particular occasion or to make an individual fashion statement.

It is accordingly another object of the invention to minimize the number of handbags, purses, clutch purses or the like otherwise necessary to address colors and materials associated with changing styles and the like.

It is a still further object to provide a purse or handbag having an interchangeable closure flap which employs simple to employ hardware for both securement and release functions of the operative mechanism.

It is still a yet further object to provide a purse of the above type which is operative without changing the external appearance of the purse.

It is another object of the invention to provide a handbag or purse of the above type which takes advantage of state-of-the-art improvements in fasteners.

The above and yet other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the hereinafter set forth Brief Description of the Drawings, Detailed Description of the Invention and Claims appended herewith.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the upper flap portion of the clutch purse according to the present invention and, therebelow, showing the open upper body portion thereof in which a first plurality of snap fasteners is shown along an upper edge thereof.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the longitudinal pocket in the rear panel and fastening elements provided therein.

FIG. 3 is a further exploded view in which the interchangeable closure flap is shown opened and, along an inner side thereof, may be seen a second linear plurality of fasteners located proximally to an edge thereof. Also shown in FIG. 3 is the longitudinal pocket formed internally to a rear edge of the rear panel of the upper body of the purse.

FIG. 4 is a sequential view, further to FIG. 2, showing the manner of insertion of the plurality of fasteners secured upon the inner side of the interchangeable flap to the plurality of fasteners shown in FIG. 1 located within the longitudinal pocket internal to the upper edge of the rear panel of the upper body of the purse.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the top of the open upper body of the purse showing therein the longitudinal pocket formed within the upper edge of the rear panel thereof and also showing the closure of the top portion of the upper body by use of a zipper.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a closed clutch purse according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view along Line 7-7 of FIG. 1, showing the location of the respective pluralities of fasteners within the inner sides of said longitudinal pocket and upon said interchangeable flap to the outer sides of said longitudinal pocket and said interchangeable flap and the interlock thereof.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the invention, similar to that of FIG. 7, however showing that the first plurality of fasteners may be secured to the inner sidewall of the pocket.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With respect to FIG. 1, the inventive purse may be seen to include an open upper body 10 having a rear panel 12 which includes an upper edge 14 thereof. Said upper body includes a region 18 proximal to said upper edge 14 of the rear panel 12 in which said region is characterized by a longitudinal pocket 20 formed internally within said upper edge 14 of the rear panel, this as is more fully shown in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 2. As may be seen therein, said pocket 20 includes an inner sidewall 22 and an outer sidewall 24. In a preferred embodiment, a mouth of pocket 20 defines a dimension in a range of about 3 to about 5 millimeters and a depth of said longitudinal pocket defines a dimension of about 2 centimeters.

As may be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, a linear plurality of fasteners 26 is secured upon said inner wall 22 of the longitudinal pocket 20 in a location 18 which is proximal to said upper edge 14 of the rear panel 12. Such fasteners may have a diameter of about one centimeter.

Further shown in FIG. 1 is an interchangeable closure flap 28 which is removably attachable to said rear panel 12 of the purse upon insertion of longitudinal rear edge 30 into pocket 20 and the securement of a second linear plurality of fasters 32 (see FIG. 3) into complemental engagement (see FIG. 7) with said first plurality of fasteners 28, this as is more fully shown in FIG. 4. That is, due to the fact that longitudinal edge 30 of the rear portion of interchangeable closure flap 28 is slightly smaller in width than the cross-sectional dimension of pocket 20, edge 30 of the closure flap 28 may be slipped within pocket 20 in the manner shown in FIG. 4 in which, due to the elastic properties of leather or a comparable material, may be employed for open upper body 10. This affords sufficient space for the fingers of the user to secure the first plurality 26 of snaps to the second plurality 32 which is secured to said inner surface of the closure flap 28 proximal to edge 30.

As may be seen in FIGS. 3 and 5, the purse is preferably provided with a zipper 34 oriented in parallel to said longitudinal pocket 20, this to provide additional security to the contents of the purse, although closure flap 28 is securable to front panel fastener 36 by complemental closure flap fastener 38, such that the appearance of the entire product, when closed, is of the nature shown in FIG. 6. Therein, as may be appreciated, an ornamental element 42 may be provided upon an outer front portion of closure flap 28 which may be secured to said flap by the manner of engagement of fastener 38.

It is to be appreciated that the present purse system requires substantially precise placement of the first linear plurality of fasteners 26 relative to said second linear plurality of fasteners 32 in order to provide for ease of securement of the closure panel 28 to the purse upper body 16 and to ensure durability of securement between each of said pluralities until the user desires to detach the closure flap in favor of an alternative one to thereby change the appearance of the purse or to change the body of the purse. This may be more fully seen in the cross-sectional view of FIG. 7 which illustrates the interlock between each male fastener 32 and female fastener 26.

As may be seen by a comparison of FIGS. 7 and 8, the positioning of said linear pluralities of fasteners (see fasteners 26A and 32A) may be reversed relative to the sides of linear pocket 20. Therein, the first (female) linear plurality is attached to the inside surface of sidewall 24, while the second (male) plurality of fasteners is attached to the inside of closure flap 28.

In the present purse, male fasteners may be used in lieu of female fasteners and vice versa. Further, a variety of types of fasteners may be used, including flat head fasteners, stud fasteners, snap fasteners and magnets of opposite polarity.

While there has been shown and described above the preferred embodiment of the instant invention it is to be appreciated that the invention may be embodied otherwise than is herein specifically shown and described and that, within said embodiment, certain changes may be made in the form and arrangement of the parts without departing from the underlying ideas or principles of this invention as set forth in the Claims appended herewith. 

1. (canceled)
 2. The purse as recited in claim 13, in which said purse comprises a clutch purse.
 3. The purse as recited in claim 13, in which said fasteners comprise snap fasteners.
 4. The purse as recited in claim 3, in which said snap fasteners comprise flat head fasteners.
 5. The purse as recited in claim 4, in which said flat head fasteners comprise stud fasteners.
 6. The purse as recited in claim 13, in which a securing elements of each opposing fastener of opposing pluralities of fasteners comprise securing elements of opposite magnetic polarities.
 7. The purse as recited in claim 4, in which an outer surface of a front panel includes a fastener complemental and opposed to a fastener located upon an inner side of an outer surface of the interchangeable closure flap.
 8. The purse as recited in claim 4, in which each fastener defines a diameter of about one centimeter.
 9. The purse as recited in claim 3, in which said width of said longitudinal length defines a dimension in a range of at least 3 to at least 5 millimeters.
 10. The system as recited in claim 9, in which a depth of said longitudinal length defines a dimension of at least 2 centimeters.
 11. (canceled)
 12. (canceled)
 13. A purse having a zipper (34) of an outer body thereof, comprising: (a) two inner panels (14) and (22) between compartment of the zipper and outer wall (21), substantially linear enclosure (20) at left (25) and right (25A) of panels (14) and (22); (b) fasteners (26) or (26A) secured upon either an inner panel (14) or (22) proximal to left (25) and right (25A) of panels (14) and (22); (c) a changeable flap attached to opposite fasteners (32) or (32A) at lower insertable portion complimental to said fasteners (26) or (26A); and (d) at said two inner panels (14) and (22) of said enclosure (20) provided of substantially width, having a length of said panels (14) and (22) thereof. 